Roller-clutch.



PATENTED SEPT. 1, 1908.

. m .m m 1 m 0A ROY ETTA D M !N D S ME D n LMRF OI LO m n D A W .Ro E m r. n A Rm 4 8 7 9 8 m N ATTORNEY.

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILBUR .T. OLDS, OF DENVER, COLORADO; FLORETTE E. OLDS, ADMINISTRATRIX OF SAID WILBUR J. OLDS, DECEASED, ASSIGN OR OF ONE- HALF TO MURVIN B. CUTSHAW, OF DEN- VER, COLORADO.

noLLER-cLU'rcn.

I Specification of Letters Patent.

, Application filed May 31, 1907. Serial in 876,493.

Patented Sept. 1, 1908.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILBUR J. OLDs, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of Denver and State of Colora 0, have invented certain new and useful Im rovements in Roller-Clutches; and I do dec are the followin to be a full, clear, and exact description 0 the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of referencemarked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in clutch mechanism more especially adapted for use in connection with orefeeders, in which the ore plate is intermittently actuated by the application of power to its shaft which usually stands at a slight inclination to the vertical.

The object ofmy improved mechanism, is to provide a clutch or ratchet construction in which there shallbe no lost motion. As heretofore constructed so far as I am aware where the ordinary ratchet mechanism is employed whether in the form of balls acting in recesses having inclined walls, or whether the ordinary ratchet and pawl construction is employed, there is always more or'less lost motion, since the pawls usually fall away from the offset of the ratchet teeth as soon as the driving device ceases to act; while the balls roll backwardly out of direct engagement with the walls of the driving and driven devices. These disadvantages or imperfections in the constructions noted, are more conspicuous, in constructions where the driven shaft occupies a vertical or an approximately vertical position, since in this event the movable .parts of the ratchet mechanism are not assisted by gravity; and it is this class of devices to which my improved mechanism is more especially applicable.

In my im roved construction, the driven shaft is provided with a disk having recesses formed in its periphery, the said recesses being closed on the outside by the depending flange of a driving device made fast to the driving shaft. In these recesses are located rollers whose axes are parallel with the driven shaft. Seated in recesses adjacent those in which the rollers are located and communicating therewith, are coil springs whic'hact 7 on the curved surfaces of the rollers about midway of their longitudinal'axes, whereby the said' rollers are always held in positive contact with the walls of the recesses in which the are located one of the said walls being on tfie disk of the driven shaft while the other is on the flan eof the driving shaft as heretofore explained.

Having briefly outlined my im roved construction, I will proceed to descri e the same in detail, reference being made to the accompanying drawing in which is illustrated an embodiment thereof.

In this drawing, F i re 1 is a section taken through my improve mechanism just above the driven disk a ortion of which is broken away and sectionlzed to illustrate the seat for a coil spring. This section is taken approximately on the line 11 Fig. 2. Fig. 2 1s a section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, the driven shaft, however, being shown in elevation.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in both views.

Let the numeral 5 designate the driving shaft to which is made fast a disk having a flange or rim 7 extending at right angles to the body of the disk, the said flan e being concentric to the axes of the sha The flange 7 surrounds a disk 8 to which is made fast the driven shaft 9 which may be con-' sidered the shaft of an ore feeder. In this event 'a disk (not shown) will be attached to the lower extremity of the shaft in a manner that will be readily understood.

' Within the outer edge or periphery of the disk 8 are formed recesses 10 which are closed on the outside by the inner surface of the driving flange 7. The inner walls of these recesses are curved as shown at 12, whereby the recesses diminish in width as they extend forwardly or in the direction in which the disk moves,.this direction being indicated by arrow A in Fig. 1. Within the recesses 10 are located cylindrical rollers 13 whose axes are parallel with the axes of the shafts 5 and 9, the last named axes being in alinement in the construction shown in the drawing. As illustrated in the drawing three recesses 10 are formed. There may of course be any desired number of these recesses, preferabl .there should be at least three, to avoi any lateral thrust on the driven shaft in applying the power. By having three of the roller devices, the pressure around the driven shaft incident to the action of the driving flange 7, is practically balanced which is an important feature in constructions of this class. The recesses 10 are formed entirely through the disk 8 and are closed at the bottom by a collar 14 which is fast on the shaft 9 and fits closely against the bottom of the disk 8. .Formed in the disk 8 and communicating with the larger extremities of the recesses 10, are chambers-15 in which are located coil springs 16 acting on. the rollers 13 about midwa 0 their length (see Fig. 2). The tension 0 these springs is such as to hold the actuating rollers 13 in positive contactosite walls of the recesses 10 at with the op all times. ence whenever the movement of the driving flan e 7 ceases, the rollers 13 are still held in positive engagement with the said walls and ready to immediately impart motion to the disk 8' and the shaft 9, the instant the flange 7 begins its movement.

As shown in the drawing the disk 8 is connected with the shaft-9 by a ke 17, whereby the disk and shaft are cause to rotate in unison.

. readily understoo From the foregoing description the use and operation of my 1m roved mechanism will be Every time a artial rotary movement is imparted to the s aft 5, the flange 7 of the actuating disk, acts on the rollers 13 to impart a corresponding partial respectively, the disk bein rotation to the disk 8, the shaft 9 and their connections.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim is:

In roller clutch mechanism, the combination with a d 'iven disk and a driving member surrounding the disk, a collar keyed upon the driven shaft and engaging one surface of the driven disk, said disk and driving member being keyed to the driven and rovided with recesses closed on the outsi e by the driving member, the said recesses diminishing in width as they extend forwardly,.rollers located ,in said recesses and having their axes parallel with the axis of the disk and extends mg through the said disk so as to engage-the. drivlng member at one extremity and the collar mounted upon the driven shaft at the other extremity, chambers formed in the said disk intermediate its surfaces and communicating with the wider extremities of the said recesses, and coil springs located in said chambers and acting on the rollers approximately midway of their length, substantially as described. 4 t

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

' WILBUR J. OLDS. Witnesses: I

' DENA NELSON, A. J. OBRI N.

driving shafts 

